Merit editor's upset and be a man! (7)

I believe the answer is:

deserve

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'merit' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'editor's upset and be a man' is the wordplay.
'editor' becomes 'ed' (abbreviation).
'upset' says the letters should be written backwards.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'be a man' becomes 'serve' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ed' in reverse letter order is 'de'.
'de'+'serve'='DESERVE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for deserve that I've seen before include "Warrant" , "rate" , "Be worth" , "Show one is worthy" , "Severed (anag)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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